1961

JANUARY 13 Major H. J. Deutschendorf breaks six world speed records in his B-58 Hustler by flying 1,200.2 miles per hour over a closed course while carrying a 4,408 pound payload and a three-man crew.

JANUARY 22 The Air Force selects the new Titan II launch vehicle to loft the Dyna-Soar into orbit.

JANUARY 31 At Cape Canaveral, a chim­panzee named Ham (Holloman Aero Medical) is blasted into orbit by a Red­stone rocket. His Mercury capsule is safely recovered and Ham exhibits no ill effects from his 18-minute ride.

At Point Arguello, California, an Atlas – Agena rocket booster launches SAMOS II, a 4,100-pound photographic test satellite, into orbit.

At Cape Canaveral, an LGM-130 Minuteman ICBM is launched for the first time and travels 4,600 miles downrange. This is a three-stage solid-propellant weapon and designed to replace more dangerous, labor-intense liquid-fueled designs.

FEBRUARY 3 The Strategic Air Com­mand initiates the new Looking Glass program. This entails keeping modified KC-135 tankers, converted into fly­ing communication centers, airborne 24 hours a day, all year long. These craft are in constant touch with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all SAC bases and air­planes should a preemptive enemy strike wipe out American command structures.

MARCH 6 At Wichita, Kansas, Boeing unveils its first B-52H Stratofortress, which is equipped with economical turbofan engines and is capable of carry­ing the GAM-87A Skybolt air-to-surface missile.

MARCH 7 The North American X-15 hypersonic research aircraft is flown by Major Robert M. White to 2,905 miles per hour; White thus becomes the first man to exceed Mach 4.

The GAM-72A Quail missile is authorized to serve as an electronic diver­sionary missile on B-52 bombers, enhancing its survivability.

MARCH 17 At Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, the first Northrop T-38 Talon jet trainer is deployed with the Air Training Command. It is still widely in use to present times.

April 1 This day the Air Force Air Materiel Command is renamed the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC), and the Air Research and Development Command becomes known as the Air Force Systems Command (AFSC).

April 12 In another memorable event, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space and the first to orbit the Earth.

April 17 At Vernalis, California, a constant-altitude balloon designed by the Air Force Cambridge Research Center deploys at 70,000 feet for nine days while carrying a 40-pound payload.

April 19 During the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion, four Air National Guard B-26 crew members are shot down over Cuba and killed.

April 21 The X-15 hypersonic rocket airplane flown by Captain Robert M. White zooms to 105,000 feet at a speed of 3,074 miles per hour. This is the first aircraft to reach that velocity.

May 2 Over Paris, France, the B-58 Hus­tler Fire Fly touches down after traveling from New York in 3 hours and 56 minutes; this is a new transatlantic record.

May 3 At Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, the Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) launches the first Titan I ICBM from a hard “silo lift” launcher.

May 5 At Cape Canaveral, U. S. Navy commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr., becomes the first American in space when his capsule Friendship 7 is lofted into a suborbital flight of15 minutes and 28 sec­onds.

May 26 In Paris, a B-58 Hustler flown by Major William R. Payne, Captain Wil­liam L. Pollemus, and Captain Raymond Wegener, 43rd Bombardment Wing, arrives from New York in only 3 hours and 20 minutes. They average 1,300 miles per hour and win the Mackay Trophy for their flight, which commemorates the 34th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s crossing.

June 1 At Kincheloe Air Force Base,

Michigan, the first Bomarc-B site becomes operational.

June 3 Over Paris, France, the B-58 Hustler Fire Fly stalls and crashes at the Paris Air Show, killing all three crew members.

June 9 The Military Air Transport Ser­vice (MATS) obtains its first C-135A Stratotlifter as the process of switching over from piston-powered aircraft to jets begins.

June 23 The X-15 hypersonic research

aircraft flown by Major Robert M. White reaches 3,603 miles per hour; White is the first man to exceed Mach 5.

June 30 In Washington, D. C., General

Curtis E. LeMay gains appointment as the new Air Force chief of staff.

July The Strategic Air Command (SAC) orders 50 percent of all airborne assets on a 15-minute ground launch alert to deter a surprise attack.

July 1 The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) begins cataloging all man-made space objects with a special detection and tracking computer system.

The Air Force Communications System (AFCS) begins and is tasked with communications and air traffic control at all Air Force bases around the globe.

July 12 An Air Force Agena-B launch rocket places the MIDAS II satellite in orbit using new “kick in the apogee” technology, whereby a second-stage booster is ignited at the apogee of the first stage, pushing the satellite out to 1,850 miles above the Earth’s surface.

July 21 At Cape Canaveral, Florida, Air Force captain Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom becomes the second American in space when a Redstone booster blasts his Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule to a height of 118 miles at 5,310 miles per hour.

AUGUST 8 At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Air Force test fires its first Atlas F missile. This version is designed for long-term storage of liquid-fuel propel­lants and will be deployed in hardened silos.

AUGUST 24 Aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran sets a new women’s speed record of 844.2 miles per hour in a Northrop T – 38 Talon.

AUGUST 25 Lockheed’s improved C – 130E Hercules transport performs its maiden flight.

September 8 A T-38 Talon flown by aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran sets a new women’s 1,000-kilometer closed course

speed record by hitting 639.4 miles per hour.

SEPTEMBER 15 Aviatrix Jacqueline Co­chran sets another women’s world dis­tance record by flying 1,346.4 miles in a Northrop T-38.

SEPTEMBER 19 At Gunter Air Force Base, Alabama, a Bomarc B automated inter­ceptor rises to 7 miles in altitude before destroying a supersonic Regulus II drone 250 miles away. To do so the Bomarc had to complete a 180-degree turn to intercept.

OCTOBER 1 With the Berlin Wall Crisis in full play, Operation stairstep unfolds, whereby 18,500 Air National Guardsmen report for active duty while ANG units are activated for service in Europe.

October 11 The X-15 hypersonic rocket research aircraft flown by Major Robert M. White zooms to an altitude of 217,000 feet—becoming the first manned aircraft to exceed 200,000 feet above the Earth.

OCTOBER 12 Aviatrix Jacqueline

Cochran flies her T-38 Talon to a new women’s altitude record of56,071 feet.

OCTOBER 18 An Air Force Kaman H – 43B helicopter rises to a record altitude of 32,840 feet.

OCTOBER 20 In Southeast Asia, the first RF-101C Voodoos are dispatched to fly over North Vietnam to monitor Com­munist troops activities.

November 9 The X-15 hypersonic rocket research aircraft flown by Major Robert M. White reaches 4,000 miles per hour at 101,600 feet. This is the X- 15’s 45th flight and the first time it has exceeded Mach 6.

The Farm Gate Air Commando detachment arrives in south Vietnam to instruct Vietnamese pilots how to fly T – 28 Trojan ground-attack aircraft. The advisers also bring along numerous sC – 47s and B-26 Invaders.

November 15 At Saigon, South Viet­nam, the 2nd Advanced Echelon, Thir­teenth Air Force deploys for active duty, officially initiating U. S. Air Force partici­pation in the Vietnam War.

November 17 At Cape Canaveral, Florida, a Minuteman ICBM is launched from a silo for the first time and travels

3,0 miles downrange as planned.

November 21 At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the 6555th Aerospace Test Wing launches an Air Force Titan ICBM with a nose cone designed for Nike-Zeus anti­missile testing.

November 22 The Air Force launches a highly secret SAMOS reconnaissance sat­ellite atop an Atlas-Agena rocket booster.

November 29 At Cape Canaveral, two chimpanzees are launched in a Mercury space capsule, which orbits the Earth twice before being safely recov­ered.

December 1 At Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, the 10th Strategic Missile Squadron becomes the first active Minuteman unit.

DECEMBER 15 At Sioux City, Iowa, the North American Air Defense Com­mand’s SAGE system becomes opera­tional after its 21st control center is finished and activated.